1A St. John smothers 6A Wichita North at Pratt

Thursday

Jan 24, 2013 at 9:47 PM

1A collided with 6A as the St. John-Hudson Lady Tigers butted heads with the Wichita North High Redskins in Pratt's Tournament of Champions Thursday afternoon, the Tigers coming away with a 56-23 first round victory and moved on to the semi-finals on Friday evening playing the Maize South Mavericks at 8 pm.

Barry Ragan

1A collided with 6A as the St. John-Hudson Lady Tigers butted heads with the Wichita North High Redskins in Pratt's Tournament of Champions Thursday afternoon, the Tigers coming away with a 56-23 first round victory and moved on to the semi-finals on Friday evening playing the Maize South Mavericks at 8 pm.

The first quarter started out slow, that is on offense, with both teams struggling to make the score. But playing defense, that was another matter as the Lady Tigers played their "run um till they drop" man-to-man defense, forcing the Redskins to turn the ball over seven times in the quarter.

Jamie Waters canned a 3-pointer and Teresa Christie made two baskets. The Tigers had the chance to build up the lead but just couldn't make a free throw, going 0-4, the score going into the second quarter with St. John leading 9-7.

Both of St. John's seniors, Morgan Osborne and Waters each canned two from downtown with Osborne getting two 2-pointers for good measure. Alexis Witt made a basket and a free throw to make the score 28-14. North answered by making a 2-pointer at the buzzer, the score going into the half with the Tigers leading 28-16. St. John forced six more North turnovers in the quarter - 13 for the half.

The Lady Tigers ratcheted up their defense several notches in the third quarter allowing the Redskins just two points while St. John mustered up 17 more points, making the score 45-18 at the end of three.

The Tigers started dominating the backboards later on in the game - St. John's big men got into position and boxed out the Redskins for the rebound. On offense, Teresa Christie and Witt got the good angles to receive the inwards passes, going around the defenders and making several scores and/or forcing North to foul.

Osborne continued mixing things up, but instead of hitting the long ones, she dribbled in towards the paint for three 2-pointers. Both Witt and Teresa Christie made four points each, Maddy Lippoldt made a basket and Waters a free throw, the score after three, St. John with a commanding 45-18 lead.

With a running clock starting the fourth quarter, Osborne made her third 3-pointer and another basket. Witt, Waters and Tara Christie each made a basket.